Women's Tennis

ISLANDERS WOMEN END GRUELING DAY WITH WIN OVER LIONS

Apr 20, 2009

Beaumont
 The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's tennis team endured
a trying day, playing the defending Southland Conference champion
Lamar Cardinals to a 4-3 loss. The Islanders came
back just two hours later and took a 4-2 decision over the
Southeastern Louisiana Lions in a 4.5 hour match to end the
day.

"Today was such
a show of courage from our women's team," said Director of Tennis
Steve Moore. "Our whole university can be proud of what they did
out there today."

At the end of
the day, the Islanders stand at 8-11 overall and 4-6 in SLC
play.

The Islanders
did their damage in the No. 3-6 singles, taking all four matches to
take the match win. No. 3 singles saw Erika Iriarte
down Morgane Dadot 7-6, 5-7, 7-6. No. 3 singles had
Alexandra Dyckman winning in three sets as well, losing the first
before coming back to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. No. 5
singles was contested between Pernelle Soulie and Annika Hanke,
with Soulie winning 6-1, 6-4. Fabiana Mersan won the
No. 6 singles point by default. In No. 1 singles,
Mirna Cicak fell by a 7-6, 6-4 decision to Iva
Velkovska. No. 2 singles had Nina Ciric losing 6-1,
6-2 to Audrey Chelini.

"An average
competitor would have probably been too deflated after the first
match," said Moore. "Not these girls, they had incredible heart in
winning the match."

The two teams
did not play the doubles point because of the clinching of the
match in singles.

"I guess what
impressed me the most about the girls today is to play the
defending SLC champion Lamar so close, coming down to the wire in
the final possible match while barely coming up short," said Moore.
"Then coming back just two hours later and winning a 4.5 hour match
just speaks volumes about the heart of this team."

In the first
match of the day, the Islanders resumed their match against Lamar
which had been postponed from Saturday afternoon due to the
weather. The match would go all the way to the
doubles point before TAMUCC fell by a 4-3 score.

In singles
matches, Mirna Cicak won at No. 1 singles in three sets, fighting
back from a set down to win 1-6, 6-1, 6-2. In No. 3
singles, Erika Iriarte also took a three-set victory with a 6-1,
5-7, 6-1 score. Pernelle Soulie won No. 5 singles in
two sets by a 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 final. In No. 2, No. 4
and No. 6 singles, the Islanders were unable to come out victorious
to send the match to the deciding doubles point.

The Islanders
Nina Ciric and Fabiana Mersan came out on top in No. 3 doubles by
an 8-6 final. After falling in No. 2 doubles by an
8-4 score, the match went to the deciding No. 1 doubles, with Cicak
and Megan Harless losing to Mariaryeni Gutierrez and Maria
Gutierrez by an 8-5 decision.

The Islanders
complete their conference slate on Monday against Nicholls State in
Beaumont before heading to Shreveport to take on Centenary on
Tuesday morning.